The new alkaline sol-gel route presented here allows preparing meso-macrocellular self-standing aluminosilicate monoliths that are easy to cast and manipulate and that exhibit open and interconnected macroporosity, high surface area and strong acidic properties. Strong acidity is brought about by the formation of a true mixed oxide. Effectiveness of these catalysts is demonstrated here in the case of bioethanol dehydration, and good performance can be expected in other processes like cracking, isomerization, alkylation reactions, etc.
Debecker, D., Boissière, C., Laurent, G., Huet, S., Eliaers, P., Sanchez, C., & Backov, R. (2016). “SiAl(HIPE)”: An acidic macro-mesocellular aluminosilicate foam monolith showing high ethanol dehydration activity. International Conference on Catalysis (ICC), Beijing. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/183491